AVMATS| JUSTIN GIESSMAN The sum of its parts When Butch Giessman left Midcoast Aviation in 1978 to start up his own business selling aircraft parts from his garage, he could have had little idea just how far AVMATS would develop through the course of the next thirty-seven years. As well as a parts distribution business, AVMATS now has in-depth engineering and composite manufacturing and repair capabilities - to the point where even airframe OEMs and the company’s competition call on its services. Giessman’s son, Justin, now President of AVMATS, recalls that at the time his father launched the company, because of taxes, few companies wanted to carry much by way of a comprehensive parts inventory. That created the opening for Butch Giessman, who began with an inventory of spare parts purchased from another operator, and then moved on to buying working aircraft and breaking them down for spares. In those early years, he specialized in the Sabreliner fl eet. AVMATS can justifi ably claim to have been a forerunner in providing alternatives to high priced OEM parts and for generally improving the availability of parts. “Today’s competitive parts-pricing and the choices enjoyed by operators are largely due to AVMATS’ unwillingness to accept the status quo in the industry as far as parts-sourcing is concerned,” says Justin Giessman. “In many instances, reducing the aircraft down to its parts can generate far more revenue than the aircraft is worth as a flightworthy asset,” he notes. Butch Giessman named the company AV- MATS, an acronym for Aviation Material and Technical Support. AVMATS still frequently reduces aircraft for their parts; however, AVMATS now has a very sophisticated array of back shops. Every item taken from an aircraft that is being broken down for parts is now processed through one of AVMATS’ back shops to restore it to near-new and comes complete with an FAA 8130 airworthiness approval tag. “The engine parts go through our turbine shop, the structural parts through our structural shop and the components through the components shop. The depth of our capabilities is what sets us apart from the competition,” Justin Giessman notes. The maintenance side also has its origins in Butch Giessman’s earlier approach. “He would sell parts all day, then go out and install them for the customer in the evening and sign them off. Things reached the point where my father opened up a maintenance shop in a hangar he leased, just to meet the demand stemming from the sale of the parts,” Justin Giessman remembers. This grew into a separate subsidiary, called Corpair Supply Company, now AVMATS Component Support, specializing in accessory and component overhaul capabilities. In fact, customer demand has driven virtually each new development in AVMATS’ history, and everything it has accomplished has been attained by developing and nurturing the additional skills internally. As Giessman notes, AVMATS has never acquired another operation. All growth has been generated internally. “For example, we started the MRO station because customer demand reached the point where, instead of sending brakes and wheels out to be fi xed, it made more sense to do them in-house. That meant additional employees, so the business grew yet again,” Justin refl ects. AVMATS now has approximately 200 employees, with the bulk of its operations in the St. Louis, Missouri area. “We have facilities at Spirit of St. Louis Airport and MidAmerica Airport, where the company developed a 27,000 square foot FBO. We also have a parts and services facility in Bournemouth, England, which we started about 15 years ago,” he explains. 36 International | Autumn 2015
JUSTIN GIESSMAN| AVMATS In many instances, reducing the aircraft down to its parts can generate far more revenue than the aircraft is worth as a flight-worthy asset Justin Giessman Autumn 2015 | International 37
Change language